


Baby's First Christmas

by chucksnetflixaccount



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Brother Feels, Canon Compliant, Christmas, Christmas Music, Episode: s03e08 A Very Supernatural Christmas, Gen, Impala
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 21:16:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8912272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chucksnetflixaccount/pseuds/chucksnetflixaccount
Summary: In which Sam and Dean negotiate how to spend Christmas (no trees in the Impala!)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [SPN Holiday Mixtape Challenge](http://holidaymixtape.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Inspired by an old Christmas song ([Baby's First Christmas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goPi1z4HzkM) by Connie Francis)

***

Baby was cruising along a lonely highway. Quite a bit faster than the speed limit allowed but Dean was at the helm, and there was no one Baby felt safer with.

It was cold outside but there was no rain, no snow on the road. The sun had set some time ago and Dean was humming along some old folk tunes as he and Baby drove through the night.

Baby would never tell Dean, but she was missing Sam. She preferred to have them both safe and sound on the road together. Eventually, Dean would calm down and pick Sam up. Baby knew that and in the meantime she would do anything to cheer Dean up.

***

Sam and Dean had left the bunker a couple of days ago and drove all the way to this small town on the East coast that seemed to be haunted by a couple of vengeful spirits.

Dean had been reluctant to take on such a long drive for just some spirits. Any hunter greenhorn could deal with those spirits, he had figured. But then he had looked at Sam and Baby, who both seemed to put on their puppy dog eyes. He had muttered something about taking Baby out one last time before the winter storms hit and they might get snowed in at the bunker.

Sam had been eager to leave and they had hit the road within the hour.

Although Baby enjoyed the luxury of the bunker, the big garage and all the other classic cars there, she liked nothing more than being out on the road with Sam and Dean. Dean felt relaxed and oddly calm during their road trip, yet another one with Sam at his side. The prospect of an easy-going hunt cheered him up even more.

Since Sam had been so excited to get on the road (what was up with that?), he was even allowed to get behind the wheel for a couple of hours while Dean slept blissfully crammed up in the passenger seat.

Since he was not riding shotgun, Sam changed the music once Dean seemed asleep.

"I know what you're doing," Dean mumbled sleepily and turned his head away from the window.

Sam smiled and turned up the radio. For the first time ever, Christmas carols sounded from Baby's speakers. It was a strange feeling, Baby figured, but not at all unpleasant. She had always liked the classics, classic rock being her favorite of course.

An old version of 'Let it snow' was next on the tape. You could still hear the crackling of the record player in the background.

"Where did you find that?" Dean asked while trying to unclench his neck muscles.  

"The music collection at the bunker featured some old Christmas vinyls. Figured I put them on tape."

Sam tried to keep all excitement out of this voice and focused on the road. Dean looked at his brother wondering where Sam's Christmas cheer had come from.

"Where is your regular Christmas moping?" Dean asked. Sam just smiled at that and stepped on it.

***

The hunt was fairly easy.

Dean figured hunter greenhorns would have been even faster at digging up the corpses (also his back would hurt less) but Sam was pleased with their result. No casualties, three bodies salted and burned to a crisp. The only thing that seemed to bother Sam was their drive back home.

"Come on Sam, let's head back!" Dean was waiting impatiently for Sam to get his stuff.  "Since when does it take you half an hour to pack your bag? Let's go."

Leaving the motel room, Sam hesitated. Dean took one look at his brother and knew something was up. He sat down his duffel.

"Ok, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Sam put on his most neutral face.

"Don't fool me, Sammy. You have been acting strange ever since we got on the road."

"I don't…," Sam stalled then took a breath and rushed through his words, "I thought we could stay a couple of days in the area, maybe even till Christmas… we could go see the Christmas tree in the city, maybe, if you want to, I know we have not had Christmas in a long…"

Sam was rambling now while Dean was confused.

"What city?"

"New York?"

"You wanna go see the Christmas tree in New York?"

Sam nodded.

"The one at the Rockefeller Center?" Dean was more confused than ever. "Why?"

"Why not? We are close," Sam got defensive and Dean stared at his brother bemused.

"You don't even like Christmas, why go and see a giant tree? In New York of all places?"

Sam gave Dean a look, his patented Chick-Flick-Moment-Ahead look, and Dean sighed.

"I don't really like Christmas but I know you do and since we are in the area and we don't really have a tree or any Christmas decorations at the bunker, I figured we could go see the tree in the city. You know, as a Christmas present. For you," Sam finished and saw various emotions flickering on Dean's face.

He was touched, undoubtedly. At the same time he wanted to negate all and any warm feelings about his little brother's Christmas present for him, so he tried to look blank. Then he turned around and left their room.

"Dean? Dean!" Sam called after him but Dean was gone. He all but ran, got in the car and headed for the road.

"That went well," Sam muttered to himself and went back to their motel room. He'd watch some TV until his big brother managed to face him again.

The last couple of years they had never really acknowledged Christmas. Not since the one before Dean went to hell. When Sam had found the Christmas songs at the bunker, he thought back at that day. It had been a crappy Christmas, by all means, but it was theirs.

Even though perdition had been looming over Dean, they both had been happy for a couple of hours. Sam thought it might be time to give Dean (and himself) another Christmas, without the threat of dying around the corner.

So, he had made the tape and after some long nights of roaming the internet and bribing a hunter from upstate New York to let them have this hunt, he had convinced Dean to take Baby out on the road. That's where he figured Dean was now: calming down with Baby on the road.

***

The B-side of the tape started up again. Dean had not been paying attention to the songs. He just hummed along and focused on the road. Baby always did a good job of calming him down.

Sam's Christmas tape lying on the passenger seat was distracting. When was the last time he had even thought about Christmas?

Yes, he knew when Christmas came around. You could hardly miss it when you entered a store and got your ears bleeding from all those crappy Christmas songs. Those things were not his kind of Christmas.

Dean's kind of Christmas featured dehydrated trees, decorations from the nearest Gas-N-Sip and lots of egg-nog with Sammy. They had not had a Christmas day like that since before he went to hell.

Dean sighed and turned Baby around to pick up Sam. He knew he had overreacted, but going to New York, watching the damn Christmas tree like normal people – it had hit too close to home. They were not normal at all and sometimes it hurt to be reminded of that.

He picked up a couple of beers before he went back to the motel. Sam was lying on the bed, watching TV. Dean tossed him a beer when he entered the room and Sam caught it without even looking. Their reflexes had been trained in way too many fights.

"So, Christmas."

At Sam's words, Dean sat down at the table and braced himself. Maybe he was not going to say it.

"We don't have to go to New York. Maybe we could get a tree for the bunker?"

Damn, he had said it.

Dean sighed and looked at Sam. "No trees in the Impala."

"You know, you don't have to take the Impala to get a tree. There is a dozen cars in the bunker's garage," Sam tried to reason.

"And put Baby in a corner? No way." Sam tried to come up with more arguments but Dean quickly continued. If they had to talk about it, they might as well do it now. "Where is your Christmas spirit coming from anyway? You are not a fan and we don't do Christmas anymore."

Sam looked puzzled and got up from the bed. "Why not? I know we did not really acknowledge it in the last couple of years but…"

"Remember the last time we had Christmas?" Dean interrupted him.

Sam's face got serious. "Yeah. It was… nice. The circumstances where…"

"I went to hell after that, Sammy. Christmas is a part of our past. Let's leave it there." Dean got up and was about to go in the bathroom. Sam sighed.

"It doesn't have to be. We don't have to be hunters 24/7, Dean."

Dean stopped at the door and faced Sam. "Feels like it."

He did not seem disappointed or sad, hunting was just his reality. He had accepted a long time ago that hunting does not mix well with a normal life. Best not to try.

"Look," Sam walked closer to Dean, "There are no imminent threats on our lives, the world's not broken – well, not more than usual – we can afford to think about ourselves for a day."

Dean rolled his eyes, "Just give it a moment. Something will come up. It always does." Then he turned around and closed the bathroom door in Sam's face.

Sam sighed and went to his laptop sitting at the table. There must be some way to get through to his brother. For once, Sam wanted to get a peek at an ordinary Christmas day again.

Sam had actually ended up liking the weird Christmas Eve they had spent together all that time ago after killing the Pagan Gods. It had been awkward, the egg-nog stilted, but their gifts had been really nice and he had liked the smile on Dean's face when he had noticed the decorations. Even though perdition had been looming over Dean, they had managed to just be brothers for a couple of hours enjoying each other's company.

"You know," Dean argued when he came back into the room, "There is a reason we can't go to New York, Sammy. I won't have Baby stuck in traffic. Not going to happen."

Dean was dead serious and Sam had to smile when he looked up from his laptop.

"You are right, I guess I should have brought the siren," Sam laughed.

"We have a siren at the bunker?" Dean's mood improved instantly, "We are never going to be stuck in traffic again. Awesome."

Sam was typing away on his laptop and Dean joined him at the table. "So, you really want to have Christmas this year?"

Sam did not look up from his laptop. He knew Dean needed another few minutes to come around to the idea. He knew it would take Dean some time to acknowledge that sometimes, even just a little bit, he needed to have a simple human life just like anyone else.

"I suppose, we could have some egg-nog." Dean mumbled. "I need more beer," he quickly added and went to the small fridge next to the bed. Hopefully, Sam would let go of his New York idea now.

"Hey Dean, I found the perfect Christmas gift for you." Sam finally looked up from his laptop and grinned at Dean.

Obviously, they had not reached a truce at egg-nog.

"I agreed on the booze, I did not agree to presents," Dean muttered.

Sam still beamed at him and motioned to the laptop.

"A hunt? You are giving me a hunt?" Dean asked incredulously once he managed to decipher the newspaper article Sam had found online.

"Yeah. There seems to be a haunted toy store."

"Are you serious?" Dean was sceptic but Sam seemed to be absolutely gone on the idea of a Christmas themed hunt.

"Apparently, people are randomly stepping on Lego bricks everywhere in town and they seem to organize and become a huge Lego monster at night. It seems to go after Christmas decorations and carol singers, especially," Sam explained the case.

"Maybe frustrated parents cursed the store. Stepping on these bricks hurts like hell," Dean mused.

"So, are we going? We can spend Christmas on the road. No trees needed," Sam looked at Dean expectantly.

How his little brother, who had been hurt and tortured for the better part of his life, still managed to gaze at him with innocent puppy dog eyes was beyond Dean's comprehension but he was incredibly thankful for that.

"Christmas on the road, huh? No decorations in the Impala! We can have some egg-nog, though," Dean conceded and Sam readily agreed to Dean's conditions.

"Ok, let's go," Dean smiled and picked up his duffle, "Don't get any of those haunted Lego's in the car. And I pick the music!"

Sam quickly closed his laptop and followed Dean to the parking lot, "Oh, come on! You know, you like that Christmas tape."

Dean was standing next to the Impala and looked at Sam across the car. "It's cheesy Christmas carols," Dean complained. He glanced at Sam, then patted Baby's roof and got in the car, "But Baby likes it." Sam just shook his head and smiled to himself.

***

Baby agreed. The Christmas songs on Sam's tape were quite corny. She really did like them, though. Even more so, she liked Dean behind the wheel and Sam in the passenger seat on the road to a case.

Baby felt at ease and decided she really liked Christmas when it came with a road trip and the boys singing Christmas carols at the top of their lungs.

***

 

 


End file.
